Welcome to the Etsy Craft Party! I’m Kathy from Kiwi Tini and I am thrilled to be able to share this paper craft tutorial with you. The techniques that I have used in this tutorial are ones that I use often when making my cupcake toppers and banners for the shop. I hope that you find this banner easy to replicate with your own craft supplies and that you are able to put your own spin on it! Remember to share photos of your creations.

The inspiration for my banner comes from childhood vacations which were often road trips taken throughout various parts of Canada and the US. We would stop at local tourist spots and take in the view or learn something new wherever we went. Quite often the journey was just as much fun as the destination, unless your parents declared: “We’ll see it on the way back”. My sister and I started our own souvenir collections to keep track of the places we visited, I had a spoon collection and my sister started a pennant collection. For the craft party I thought it would be fun to create a paper banner similar to the one’s my sister collected all those years ago. Inspirational quotes are so popular right now and I chose: ” Wild + Free” I hope this banner captures the spirit of adventure for you, whether it is climbing a mountain, dipping your oar in a glassy lake, jet setting to foreign lands, or relaxing on the patio….be wild and free this summer.

Instructions: Cut your patterned paper down into a 8.5″ x 11″ size. Download this Wild + Free template and print it directly onto your patterned paper. Once you’ve done this, cut along the grey lines with the Exacto knife and this will form the triangle shape of your flag.

For the flowers cut out four squares. I used the following measurements for my flowers: one 4″, one 3.5″ and two 2.5″.

Next take one of the squares and cut a spiral out of the square. I cut my spirals about 1/4″ wide so the flower is relatively flat, stop near the end leaving a small circle, this will be the bottom of the flower. (there are lots of you tube videos on how to make these flowers if you need more assistance)

Take your dowel and start wrapping the spiral for one of the flowers onto the dowel. Try to keep it as tight as possible. Once you are finished rolling your flower remove it from the dowel and using the hot glue gun cover the last portion of the paper with glue and glue the rolled spirals to this. Repeat this process for the rest of the flowers.

Take your flag at the widest part and estimate about two inches in from the edge on each side to make two parallel slits in the paper using the exacto knife. This will be the openings for the dowel to slide through. Note, you will have to make the slits long enough for the wooden dowel to pass through. If you make the slits too long then the dowel will not stay in place but you can always use some tape on the back side of the flag to hold the dowel in place.

Cut out a triangle for the arrowhead and a rectangular shape for the tail of the arrow. Fold the tail in half and using scissors you can make parallel cuts to make the fringe but do not cut all the way to the centre. Glue these pieces on to the arrow.

Next arrange your feathers and flowers for how you would like them to be and glue them in place.

Cut two 5″ x 0.5″ rectangular pieces of paper and fold them in half and then glue them slightly off centre and attach to the flag from behind. I have attached mine to line up with where the slits for the dowel are.

That’s it! You are ready to display your banner.

Remember to share photos of your creation on Instagram using the hashtags: #etsycraftparty and #etsycalgarycraftparty.

Kathy lives in Calgary, Alberta where she runs her shop, featuring handmade paper party decorations and accessories.

“For now I am a one woman operation, from designing, making, shipping and marketing. Every day I spend at my shop on line and in my studio is so enjoyable. It is great connecting with party planners, DIY brides and event coordinators. I am so happy to be a part of the Etsy community and the handmade movement at large.”